Martha Washington's Nutmeg Custard Pie (1770)

• 2 cups milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
• 3/4 tspn ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tspn salt
• pastry for 9-inch pie

Line a 9-inch pie pan with pastry.  Flute edge, and prick bottom and sides with fork tines. Bake in pre-heated hot oven (425 degrees) for 7 minutes. Remove pie shell.  Reduce oven temperature to slow (325 degrees).

In a medium saucepan, scald milk with bay leaf and cinnamon stick. In a bowl, thoroughly combine eggs with egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and salt. Strain scalded milk over egg mixture, and mix well.

Pour into pie shell. Bake in a slow oven until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Serve at room Temperature with whipped cream, sprinkled with nutmeg, if desired  Serves 8.

(Origin - Clipping from unknown local cookbook, circa 1980. Martha Washington lived from 1731 to 1802. Recipe from Melinda Ruddell.)

More "Lost" Historic Recipes
White House Peach Fritters (1887)

Thomas Jefferson's Macaroni and Cheese (1802)
Abe Lincoln's Butter-Browned Steak with Coffee-Mustard Sauce (1837)

Rolled Oats Bread with Brown Sugar (1938)

Each bite of my grandmother's home-baked breads was comforting, soft, and delicious. In fine Kansas tradition, her meals always included a plate stacked high with bread and a dish of butter. This is one of her personal recipes.

"Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 cup rolled oats. Cover, let stand until lukewarm.  Add:

• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 cake compressed yeast
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons melted shortening

"Add enough flour to make batter the consistency of cake batter. Beat well. Cover, and let rise. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Flour enough to make stiff dough.

"Let rise until double its bulk. Mold in loaves. Let rise. Bake for 1 hour." (In a moderate oven, which would be about 350 degrees.)

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley.) 

More "Lost" Recipes from my Grandmother
Caramel Meringue Pie (1935)

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies with Dates, Figs (1935)

Mahogany Cake with Sour Cream (1936)

Caramel Spice Nut Cake (1935)

Pineapple Marlow (1934)

• 16 marshmallows
• 1/2 pint whipping cream
• 1 cup crushed pineapple

Steam marshmallows and pineapples until marshmallows are liquified.  

When cool and slightly stiffened, combine with beaten whipping cream.  Pour into trays and freeze without stirring.

(Origin - Memo Book dated November 24, 1934. Noted as "Recipes gotten from other women." Author unknown.)



More Deliciousness from this 1934 Memo Book

Peanut Butter Wafers (1934)

Caramel Meringue Pie (1935)

• 1 cup sugar, melted
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 tbspns corn starch
• 1 tspn vanilla
• Salt, pinch

Beat egg yolks.  Add cornstarch, white sugar, milk and salt. Heat.

Melt other sugar. Add to mixture, and cook till thick.  Pour into baked crusts, and cover with meringue.  Return to oven, and brown slightly.  Makes two small pies.

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley. This recipe was by June Hilton.) 

More Recipes from My Grandmother's Collection

Old-Fashioned Divinity Candy with Walnuts (1935)

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Loaf Cake with Vanilla (1935)

Mahogany Cake with Sour Cream (1936)

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies with Dates, Figs (1935)

Old-Fashioned Divinity Candy with Walnuts (1935)

• 1 cup Karo
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbspn black walnut flavoring

Cook sugar and water until it forms a firm ball in cold water. Pour slowly over egg whites, and beat until like mashed potatoes.

Add walnuts and flavoring, and spread into a buttered pan. Cut into squares.

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley. This recipe was by Chloe Gould of Coalinga, California.) 

More Recipes from My Grandmother's Collection

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Loaf Cake with Vanilla (1935)

Mahogany Cake with Sour Cream (1936)

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies with Dates, Figs (1935)

Caramel Meringue Pie (1935)

Mahogany Cake with Sour Cream (1936)

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 egg
• 4 tbspns chocolate
• 1 tspn vanilla
• 1 tspn soda

Put soda in sour cream.  Add sugar, egg, and then flour.

Melt chocolate and add. Then put in vanilla.  

Bake in loaf or layers. (Note - Bake at 350 degrees until firm and a knife can be cleanly inserted.)  

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley.) 

Carrots Rolled in Corn Flakes (1937)

Scrub 7 large carrots. Boil til nearly done, in salted water. Drain and cut in half lengthwise.

Roll each piece in mayonnaise, then in crushed Corn Flakes.  

Place in greased baking dish. Dot with butter; season with salt and pepper.  

Bake in moderate oven, 305 degrees until brown.

(Origin - "Kitchen Scrapbook" published in 1937 by The Reilly and Lee Co. "to give the housewife a practical place in which to keep not only her own recipes but those collected from her friends."  All recipes are handwritten or newspaper clippings.) 

Gingered Rabbit Casserole (1938)

• 1/2 cup salt pork, diced
• 1 fryer rabbit
• Milk
• Flour
• 1/2 tspn pepper
• 1/2 tspn ginger (or to taste)
• 1 cup potatoes, sliced

Fry salt pork until crisp.  Dip rabbit in milk and roll in flour to which pepper and ginger have been added.  

Brown well in salt pork drippings and place all in casserole with potatoes. Sprinkle lightly with flour left from rolling.  Cover all with milk.

Cover casserole. Bake in slow over 1 1/2 hours.

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley.) 

Caramel Spice Nut Cake (1935)

• 1 cup cooked prunes, cut in small pieces
• 1 tspn baking soda
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup sour milk
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 tspn cinnamon
• 1 tspn cloves
• 1 tspn nutmeg
• 1 tspn vanilla
• 3 eggs, yolks and white beaten separately

Sprinkle the prunes with the soda.  Cream the shortening, sugar, and beaten egg yolks.  

Sift flour and spice together, and add milk alternately. Blend in prunes.  

Beat until smooth, and add flavoring.  Fold in beaten egg whites. Grease layers pans, Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

(Origin - My grandmother's collection of recipes from neighbors and friends. All recipes are handwritten, typed or newspaper clippings, from the 1930s to 1950s.  My grandmother was a farmer's wife in California's Central Valley.) 

Peanut Butter Wafers (1934)

• 2 tbspns butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg beaten until light
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 4 tspns baking powder
• 1/2 tspn salt
• Chopped peanuts

Mix together all dry ingredients, then add peanut butter and butter

Add to mixture alternately with 1/3 cup milk. Mix well.  

Chill the dough. Roll out thinly and cut.  Sprinkle with fine chopped peanuts and sugar.  Bake in a quick oven until brown.

(Origin - Memo Book dated November 24, 1934. Noted as "Recipes gotten from other women." Author unknown.)